Leirion Gaylor Baird

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Leirion Gaylor Baird
52nd Mayor of Lincoln
Assumed office
May 20, 2019
Preceded byChris Beutler
Personal details
Political partyDemocratic
EducationYale University (BA)
University of Oxford (MS)

Leirion Gaylor Baird is an American politician. She is the current mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska where she previously served as a city councilwoman, elected in 2019.

Early life and education[]

Gaylor Baird grew up in Portland, Oregon where her parents were public school teachers. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in history from Yale College in 1993. She earned a Master of Science in comparative social policy from University of Oxford in 1997.[1]

Career[]

Gaylor Baird began her career as a management consultant for Fortune 500 companies, working also as a city budget and policy analyst. She was the director of an after-school and summer enrichment program in San Francisco. Upon moving to Lincoln, Nebraska she was appointed to the Lincoln/Lancaster County Planning Commission and helped develop their 2040 Comprehensive Plan. She was elected to the Lincoln City Council as a city-wide representative in May 2013 and was, at the time, its only female member. She won reelection in 2017.

Following the ratification of a term limit amendment by referendum, Gaylor Baird announced her intention to succeed incumbent three-term Mayor Chris Beutler.[2] Affiliated with the Democratic Party, she officially ran as a nonpartisan candidate due to municipal election law.[3] She won the election for mayor on May 7, 2019, against Republican-affiliated Cyndi Lamm.[4][1] She was sworn in on May 20, 2019, alongside the new city council.

Political positions[]

During her campaign for the mayoralty, Gaylor Baird campaigned on additional road funding for the city,[5] environmental preservation,[6][7] and community land trusts for housing.[8] During her time as a city councilwoman, she introduced legislation to ban bump stocks in the city.[9]

Elections[]

Results[]

Lincoln, Nebraska, Mayor General Election, 2019[10]
Party Candidate Votes %
nonpartisan Leirion Gaylor Baird 33,692 54.46%
nonpartisan Cyndi Lamm 27,994 45.25%
write-ins 176 0.28%
Turnout 61,862 36.84%
Lincoln, Nebraska, Mayor Primary Election, 2019[11]
Party Candidate Votes %
nonpartisan Leirion Gaylor Baird 21,660 41.87%
nonpartisan Cyndi Lamm 18,527 35.81%
nonpartisan Jeff Kirkpatrick 8,665 16.75%
nonpartisan Krystal Gabel 2,301 4.45%
nonpartisan Rene Solc 451 0.87%
write-ins 129 0.25%
Turnout 51,733 31.19%

Recall[]

A recall against Baird was first organized in October 2020. LNK Recall was formed in response to the Lincoln City Council suspending city charter rules that gave the public an opportunity to sit in on meetings; this led to the designation of Pat Lopez as health director. The recall position stated, "Mayor Baird sought out and obtained open-minded authoritarian control and used it to attack our liberty, usurp legislative authority, silence our voices, misuse our police, destroy our small businesses, sow discord in our community and allowed vandalism in our city. We the people do hereby intend to stop her assault on the citizens and good life of Lincoln."[12] Organizers needed at least 21,652 signatures from the community to trigger a recall.[13] The recall organizers had up until December 23, 2020, to gather the needed signatures, though they were unable to do so. Gaylor responded to the act by saying she continued to work as mayor.[14]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Leirion Gaylor Baird". JournalStar.com. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  2. ^ Hicks, Nancy. "City Councilwoman Leirion Gaylor Baird will run for mayor". JournalStar.com. Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  3. ^ Shawver, Bryan. "Race for Lincoln Mayor: Leirion Gaylor Baird". www.1011now.com. 10 11 News. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  4. ^ Johnson, Riley. "Democrat Leirion Gaylor Baird elected Lincoln's new mayor". JournalStar.com. Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  5. ^ Johnson, Riley. "Lamm vows to cut wheel tax if elected Lincoln mayor". JournalStar.com. Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  6. ^ Hicks, Nancy. "Two women, Gaylor Baird and Lamm, will face off in mayor's race". JournalStar.com. Lincoln Journal Star.
  7. ^ Hicks, Nancy. "Gaylor Baird would reduce emissions from city fleet if elected mayor". JournalStar.com. Lincoln Journal Star.
  8. ^ Johnson, Riley. "Affordable housing, 5G internet, dedicated music district discussed at Lincoln mayoral debate". JournalStar.com. Lincoln Journal Star.
  9. ^ "Lincoln City Council bans bump stocks". AP NEWS. Associated Press. 27 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Lincoln City General Election Results May 7, 2019". Lancaster County Election Commissioner. May 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Lincoln City Primary Results April 9, 2019". Lancaster County Election Commissioner. April 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  12. ^ RECALL, LNK. "RECALL PETITIONS ARE FILED". LNK RECALL. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  13. ^ Johnson, Riley. "Recall organizers come up short, say focus will shift to city election". JournalStar.com. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  14. ^ Now, 10/11; Petersen, Abbie. "Affidavits filed in effort to recall Lincoln Mayor, four council members". www.1011now.com. Retrieved 2021-04-29.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Lincoln
2019–present 		Incumbent
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